NEWSMAKER-Hostess Cupcakes, Twinkies finds their savior

NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Dean Metropoulos may not be ahousehold name, but the food industry veteran's reach extendsfrom the pantry to the refrigerator to the freezer.

Metropoulos, who works with his sons Daren and Evan, hasteamed up with longtime partner Apollo Global Management to buy some snack cake brands from bankrupt Hostess Brands Inc. Hostess said on Monday that their $410 million bidwas unrivaled, paving the way for the sale of Twinkies, DingDongs and Cupcakes once a U.S. bankruptcy court approves.

It is too early to say what his new strategy will look likebut Metropoulos, who came to the United States from Greece as achild, has quite a track record.

"I think of him as having the Midas touch," said someone whohas worked with Metropoulos over the years, but not on thisdeal.

"He's got far more wins than he does losses. He comes intosituations and is quickly able to evaluate what the issues areand puts all his efforts toward fixing them ... I think he'sgoing to do pretty well here with Hostess," said the person, whodeclined to be identified.

Metropoulos is likely to maintain some union representationamong Hostess workers, but is unlikely to get "tied up in thesame situation that took the company down during the lastgo-round," the source said.

Hostess won permission in November to wind down its businessand liquidate its assets after a strike by a baker's unioncrippled the company's operations.

"This is the salvation Hostess has been waiting for," saidAnthony Sabino, a business law professor at St. John'sUniversity. The amount being paid, he said, "is a significantoutpouring for a brand that was basically left for dead."

STRATEGIC INVESTOR

Last year, Forbes ranked the 66-year-old Metropoulos, aresident of Greenwich, Connecticut with Greek ancestry, as No.377 on its list of U.S. billionaires. Over the last few decades,Metropoulos has sold everything from milk to pickles to frozenfoods. His latest coup, in 2010, was his sons' purchase of PabstBrewing Co, maker of blue-collar-turned-hipster-favorite PabstBlue Ribbon beer.

He did not respond to an interview request, though in anemail, Daren Metropoulos said the family was working to haveTwinkies back on store shelves by summer.

Dean Metropoulos has served as an executive at companiessuch as the Morningstar Group, which became Dean Foods,Duncan Hines cake mix maker Aurora Foods, GhirardelliChocolates, and Mumm and Perrier Jouet Champagnes.

He also ran Chef Boyardee and Pam cooking spray makerInternational Home Foods, which was sold to ConAgra Foods Inc, and Pinnacle Foods, maker of Vlasic pickles and LogCabin syrups. Blackstone Group bought Pinnacle in 2007and filed for the group's IPO in December.

Another food industry source said Metropoulos was oftenamong the first people to smell new foods up for sale.

"Whenever there's a food asset sale in North America, healways knew it was coming," said the source, who declined to benamed because they did not want to discuss businessrelationships publicly. "He had an interest in everything."

It remains to be seen whether Metropoulos's Midas touch willtranslate to the golden sponge cake of Twinkies, but onebranding expert said that as long as the owners do not stray toofar from its core strength, anything is possible.

"The biggest mistake for a brand that's trying to repositionitself is to go too far away from what it's about at its core,"said Martin Okner, managing director of advisory firm SHM & CoCorporate Navigators.

"There will never be a healthy Twinkie. There will never bea premium PBR in a can," Okner said.